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I think it's a cool show although a somewhat unbelievable premise which has been done countless times in the past (terminator, etc.). I wonder when they are going to get around to the theory that if a time traveler does something in the past to change the future everything blows up.

Unless you assume that whatever those who go back in time do actually shape the future. They actually address that option in the first episode.

In a show like this, I interpret the time-travel plot element as a convenient contrivance to isolate the protagonist from getting significant assistance in her quest. It's like the "shuffle off to the other side of the galaxy" contrivance for Voyager--no help from StarFleet--they are on their own. In essence, it's a McGuffin, just there to setup the plot, but completely unimportant to the overall story, which is her against them. Yes, she has a sidekick, but really, it's her against them.

Luke

Sagaciously eschew obfuscating sesquipedalianisms.

Evil is charming and beautiful. It makes you doubt yourself. It asks for one small compromise after another until it whittles you down, and it functions best when no one believes in it.--from Joan of Arcadia

I think it was Issac Asimov who once said that there will never, ever be time travel into the past - not because it is impossible, but based upon human nature and logic. His argument was that if we invent it, people will be unable to resist going back and messing with history. That would continue until we end up creating a history in which time travel is never discovered and therefore that would become the one and only history.

Who was it that said, "The past no longer exists, the future does not yet exist; there is only the present."...

This is exactly what happens when you drop acid. No kidding.

Humans survive in their environment by constantly predicting the near future, often subconsciously "if I want to turn right here I will need to turn the steering wheel at a point in time just this far into the near future". They also rely on past experience to guide them "I know just when and how much to turn the steering wheel because I have done this before". Daily existence is a balancing act of constant prediction of the near future and constantly relying on history. We can't really do much about what is happening in the present other than endure it, so we survive mostly by concentrating on predicting the very near future and relying on what we have already learned in the past; we pretty much ignore the present because we have no control over it and we need to pay attention to constantly predicting the near future and constantly relying on what the past has given us, to survive.

When you drop acid, the past ceases to exist for you (your ability to regard it is impaired), and the future ceases to exist for you (same impairment). You can only regard and react to the present. This is why that experience is so profound; it is completely different than everything else we know and do. I do not recommend trying it, however. The stronger the dose, the less you can regard the past and the future. If you take enough to impair them completely, you become a quivering mass, unable to function at any level other than autonomic (respiration and heartbeat). This is sort of an indicator of how important those two processes (prediction and referral to past experience) actually are for us to survive.

Technically the present is of course the only one of the three that actually exists, making the above quoted statement sort of a "Captain Obvious" pronouncement, but we know the future will exist, which is why we need to predict it constantly (at least the very near future) and we know the past did exist, which is why we can still draw on those experiences to guide us through the present, and into the future, even though it will still only be the present for us.

It is pretty ironic that the past (relying on what we know) is important, the future (prediction of) is important, but the only one of the three that actually exists, the present, isn't really important to us at all.

Edited by TomCat, 29 January 2013 - 07:45 AM.

It's usually safe to talk honestly and openly with people because they typically are not really listening anyway.

They let the Canadian writers slip a bit this week. We don't have any "Leftenants" in the US! My spell checker can't even figure out how to spell it that way.

I heard that but it didn't even hit me as a mistake, I guess I have heard it enough that it went right by. I would consider it more of a speaking mistake rather than a writing mistake as the word is spelled the same regardless of pronunciation

I heard that but it didn't even hit me as a mistake, I guess I have heard it enough that it went right by. I would consider it more of a speaking mistake rather than a writing mistake as the word is spelled the same regardless of pronunciation

NEW YORK - March 26, 2013 - Syfy has announced its popular time traveling police drama Continuum will return for a second season. The 13 all-new episode season will premiere in its new time period beginning Friday, June 7 at 10PM (ET/PT).

During its first season, Continuum delivered 1.35 million total viewers, 644K Adults 25-54 and 537K Adults 18-49. In its time period, the series ranked #6 in Adults 25-54 and #10 in Adults 18-49 among all cable entertainment programs with at least three telecasts (based on most current data).

New episodes of Continuum pick up after the gripping Season 1 finale when Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols/Criminal Minds, Alias) fought a ticking clock to prevent a cataclysmic act of terrorism.

"But the freedom that they fought for, and the country grand they wrought for, is their monument today, and for aye." "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."

The problem I am having with this show is that they are killing off so many civilians with no thought of future repercusions. If you believe everyone is connected somehow, then killing several people an episode would change the future dramatically.

Even with the above, if you throw out any reasoning about time travel, the show is entertaining.

The problem I am having with this show is that they are killing off so many civilians with no thought of future repercusions. If you believe everyone is connected somehow, then killing several people an episode would change the future dramatically.